Three Volume Novel
by LadieLazarus
Summary: A Draco/Astoria Story.
1. Volume One: Astoria's Story

Volume One: Astoria's Story

As far as old, old families went, the Greengrasses were one of the oldest in existence. They could trace their family back to generation upon generation of Pure-bloods and ancient magical families. They carried themselves with decorum and with the utmost of good breeding and superior manner at all times.

The daughters, Daphne and Astoria, were perfect Pure-blood ladies.

The Greengrass sisters were delicate creatures who ate like birds, danced with skill and finesse, and spoke in quiet and dulcet voices. They were sorted into the traditional family House of Slytherin at Hogwarts, associated with other families of similar heritage, and were only ever seen, even out of school, to be in the best of company.

Daphne was the eldest by two years, and quite the accomplishment of Pure-blood breeding and quality. Her dark blonde hair and blue eyes were off-set with strong, aristocratic features, an impeccable sense of fashion, and a smile that was pleasant and winning. She spoke when spoken to, yet was always up on the latest gossip. She was quite musical, and could sing and play the cello. In fact, she'd been a regularly featured soloist in the Hogwarts school choir. She was everything that a lady of her bearing should be, and her parents doted on her excessively.

Astoria was also very pretty. She had very dark hair that she styled in complicated ringlets. She also had brown eyes, and Astoria had been told frequently, that they were quite beautiful, if not a bit large. She had a small, slightly upturned nose, and a small mouth. She was much daintier than Daphne, although, in Astoria's mind, nowhere near as pretty as her sister.

Astoria was not musical, per se. She could play the flute well enough to accompany Daphne, but took no real joy in it. Instead, she carried her prowess in intellect. She spoke English, French, German, Italian, Latin, and Russian all fluently, and was a master of nearly every school subject.

It was not surprising, therefore, that the Greengrass girls were expected to line up, get married, and produce children that would carry on a tradition of grace and good breeding.

Astoria had, in fact, succeeded at this expectation with much more speed and success than her family would have ever expected.

Astoria Greengrass was courting Draco Malfoy, with an engagement rumored to be in the works, much to her parents' delight. After all, if the Greengrasses were an old family, the Malfoys were surely older. The only real surprise in the union came from the fact that it was Astoria that Draco asked for, and not Daphne.

It should have been Daphne, if Astoria were honest with herself. Daphne was quite pretty, really. She was also the right age for marriage in Pure-blood society, at just barely twenty.

Besides that, Daphne and Draco were in the same year at school. They had had much more opportunity for socializing than Draco and Astoria had.

Of course, in Astoria's mind, that might well have been why the Malfoy's sole heir eschewed her sister to begin with.

Only those who really knew Daphne knew her at all. That is to say that she was a very different person when within the halls of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. She spent the majority of her time socializing with Pansy Parkinson and other girls of that ilk, and her nature was nowhere near as pleasant as it appeared when she was playing cribbage with another young lady or eating cucumber sandwiches at a party. In fact, Daphne Greengrass was quite cruel. She was, as most girls of any status are, a shark. She took delight in bringing misery and ruination to others through a network of gossip and intrigue, and had been personally responsible for the dissolving of two courtships, and possibly, though Astoria could never prove it, one engagement.

Whether or not the Greengrasses were aware of their daughters distinct personalities is unknown. Although, if they were aware, it seemed to make little difference. Mr. Wilberforce Greengrass was essentially only attentive to either of his children in a strictly financial sense, and Mrs. Berengaria Greengrass devoted all of her attention to making Daphne the best prospect for marriage that she possibly could. To the outside observer, it would seem that the Greengrass household did not expect too terribly much of Astoria.

This is because Astoria was, as Berengaria often put it when speaking to her dear friend, Mrs. Zabini, odd.

Astoria was prone to giggle fits. They weren't horrible, really, but to a Pure-blood lady, they were social suicide. They were hardly appropriate for a lady of any composure, and they appeared to be entirely out of Astoria's control. This fact horrified Berengaria, and she did her level best to supervise her youngest daughter at social events, to ensure that this damaging quality did not show.

Astoria was also prone to speaking her mind more than was strictly desirable. She tended to talk without thinking, and occasionally even horrify those to whom she was speaking with some onf her newer fashioned ideas on fashion and social hierarchy.

And so, when Draco Malfoy asked Wilberforce for respectful permission to court his youngest daughter, you could have knocked Wilberforce over with a feather. He hemmed and hawed about it, but everyone knew that there was no justifiable way that he could say no to a Malfoy.

And he did not, much to Astoria's delight.


	2. Volume Two: Family Jewelry

Volume Two: Family Jewelry

The box was rather small. It was a simple green container with delicate ribbons tied around it, but it was nothing extraordinary, really. In fact, it may have appeared totally insignificant, were it not, most certainly from Draco Malfoy.

The present was deposited on the great oak table at which the Greengrasses, as was their habit, were having an early breakfast. Astoria recognized the owl at once as belonging to the wizard she was courting, and lifted a dainty hand to smooth feathers in gratitude.

Decorum prohibited the opening of the gift until breakfast was complete. And, since it was assumed that Astoria would desire to compose some sort of satisfactory response to Draco, the owl was taken from the dining room and set to rest in the room where the Greengrasses other owls were kept until the present had been opened.

Mrs. Greengrass appeared to be as eager as Astoria to see what was inside the box, and so breakfast was finished in record time. Daphne had not even finished her eggs when the plate were cleared, and the poor elves nearly did themselves an injury hurrying the remnants from the room. They barely had time to get the serving plates beyond the great wooden doors when Benegaria turned on her youngest daughter and demanded that she open the cadeau.

That suited Astoria just fine. Technically, her mother should have insisted that she adjourn to the sitting room for such an activity, but she was quite eager to discover what was in the box, and didn't think she could have waited that long. The wait through breakfast had been interminable as it was.

The two other Greengrass ladies stared, in breathless anticipation as Astoria opened the box, and then, they all exhibited expressions of shock and surprise at what she lifted from inside.

Benegaria Greengrass was, as all Pure-blood mothers were, something of a fanatic on the subject of lineage. Her girls learned the complete family trees for all of the suitable families back as far as the twelfth or thirteenth century. (Although, both girls could complete the Malfoy tree back as far as the eighth). With this instruction had also come an intense curriculum on the subject of Family Jewelry.

All Pure-blood families of any standing had Family Jewelry. It was pieces of jewelry that were often centuries old, and notoriously beautiful. The pieces were distinctive and a matter of public record to the Pure-blood community. Most Pure-blood witches could identify major pieces of different Family Jewelry on sight.

When a witch and wizard were courting, it was typical, at different points, that he present her with minor pieces of this jewelry. Of course, very much depended upon his certainty that the courtship was going to be carried all the way through to engagement and, eventually, to marriage, because she did not have to give the jewelry back if the courtship dissolved, which could mean the loss of some very valuable family pieces.

The piece that Astoria lifted from the box was a necklace that she was well-aware, as were her mother and sister, was a major piece of the Malfoy family's collection. It would have had to come directly from its place in the the Malfoy's jewelry vault at Gringott's.

It was more a collar than a necklace, with spider-thin silver strands holding opals and sapphires in an overly complicated artisan arrangement. It was just over seven-hundred years old.

And, it was hers, less than two months into her courtship.

Astoria, not caring that it looked ridiculous with her day dress, delightedly hurried to clasp the necklace around her neck, and her mother and sister rushed to admire it. Even Wilbeforce, seated as his customary breakfast seat with his customary silence, was forced to admire it.

It was that very day, as Astoria rushed from the room to pen a suitable response to her suitor for such a fantastic, if not incredibly ostentatious, present, that Mr. And Mrs. Greengrass decided that perhaps more attention should be paid to their youngest daughter. After all, she'd clearly done something right as far as the young Master Malfoy was concerned.

From that point forward, it was Daphne who could have caught fire without her parents taking notice.

Astoria, for her part, took no small satisfaction in the fact that Pansy Parkinson, throughout the entirety of her two _year _dalliance with Draco, had never been offered so much as a bauble.


	3. Volume Three: All's Hair in Love and War

Volume Three: All's Hair in Love and War

One thing that could not be said about Astoria Greengrass would be that she was an overtly vain creature. She was aware of her own beauty in the way that flowers are; they show it off because they cannot help it. She supposed that she was pretty enough, but carried the whole display off effortlessly and with gracious humility whenever anyone had the good observational skills to point it out to her.

The one thing that she did care about, however, was her hair. Her dark and delicate ringlets were her pride and joy. In fact, she was so dedicated to their care and preservation that she had learned how to use the old-fashioned, metal curling tongs that her mother kept in a drawer, and styled her hair herself, without the aid of elves or parents, long before she learned magic. And, for some reason, after she learned magic, she continued to style it the manual way. She carried the tongs with her to school in a small, velvet bag ,and rose nearly two hours before breakfast every morning to complete the beauty regimen.

The whole habit had begun, if Astoria were honest, as a barb at her older sister. Daphne desperately desired ringlets like Astoria's, but alas, the elder girl's hair would not hold the curls, even when bespelled to do so. However, Astoria's hair took to curls like a duck to water, and so she did her level best to learn to complete the arrangement, in order that she might drive her sister mad with jealousy.

It worked, of course, as such efforts between Pure-blood ladies often do, and Daphne often sought to make her little sister's efforts futile.

One such attempt occurred the night of a Engagement Gala for a mutual friend from Hogwarts. All of society would be there, and Astoria had wanted to make certain that her hair would be perfect.

Daphne had other plans. The older girl had sabotaged the curling tongs, making them ineffective. Astoria was forced to use magic to complete her coif, which she was loathe to do, and she felt that the design, when completed that way, was actually inferior to the efforts of hand-producing each curl.

For that reason, it would come as no surprise that Astoria sought revenge for this trickery. And, the revenge came in the form of Draco Malfoy.

Daphne had made no secret to her sister about her feelings for the boy. Daphne was, in fact, quite mad about him. However, Astoria suspected that the Malfoy's son was, in fact, barely aware of Daphne's existence.

He was, however, back on the available market after his rather public and quite unfortunate break with Pansy Parkinson a year ago, and had made no move to court anyone else since, which only fueled the fires of Daphne's determination. She had told Astoria that he was as good as hers.

Which is precisely why Astoria decided to do what her sister had been too afraid to do; she was going to speak to Draco Malfoy.

The conversation began on negligible topics, with Astoria doing her best to sound a charming prospect for further socialization and, to her great surprise, succeeding admirably.

She had not expected any sort of success with the boy, but, as it turned out, he was enamoured with her ability to speak her mind and thought her loathed giggle fits were absolutely adorable. Astoria was further surprised to learn that she, also, enjoyed his company tremendously. He was not at all the snide and pompous little boy that she remembered occupying her sister's time, but instead, a calm, respectful and incredibly erudite man.

The two began socializing on more than one occasion until he asked to officially escort her to a number of things. Then, with fear clearly etched into the aristocratic lines of his face, he asked her if he might have her permission to speak with her father about making their courtship official.

Astoria had long-forgotten the original reasoning behind her speaking to Draco by then, and was only too overjoyed to agree.

In fact, it was not until they were officially courting for some time, and engagement loomed on the horizon, that Astoria remembered about Daphne at all.

She tearfully confessed to Draco, assuming that he would now see her as a spiteful and malicious creature, just like all those girls that they had professed a mutual dislike for. He would end the courtship, and she would be back to wondering who on Earth would tolerate an outspoken witch who was prone to giggle fits.

Much to her surprise, her young suitor took in the entire story with nothing more than a raised eyebrow and a chuckle. However, sensing her genuine distress, he assured her that he had no desire to end the association, and could not imagine himself happier with anyone else. Astoria's fears assuaged, they moved on with the relationship, and Draco asked her for her hand a few months later, right on schedule.

It wasn't until many years later, while she was, once again, setting her hair in ringlets, that Astoria recalled that it had actually been these very hair tongs that had sparked the feud that had ended up winning her a husband. She giggled, and Draco, who had been watching her efforts, from the bed, with a bemused sort of laziness, smiled over the top of his book.

"Something funny, darling?"

"I was just thinking about the fact that I only ever started doing my hair this way to annoy Daphne."

"Did you now?" Her husband closed his book, coming to stand behind her at the mirror. He carefully avoided mussing the complicated arrangement, placing his affectionate kiss on the side of her neck instead. "Well, you know what a fan I am of any plan that annoys your sister. They tend to work out well for me in the end."


End file.
